April 22-23, 2006--There's nothing good about painting. Seriously. Nothing. The paint will stain you, the fumes will kill you, and the first time you step in a tray of paint will annoy you. But there's just something about painting your entire basement "Seaman's Coat" blue that will make you giggle inside and out.
This weekend, I painted the basement in which my pirate bar will proudly sit. I plan on posting pictures of this entire project as I go, but my idiot dog chewed up the USB cable for my camera, so there's no way of getting all those pixels from the camera into my computer. I ordered a new cable, and I expect it will be arriving shortly.
Anyhow, the first step of the pirate bar-building began this weekend with the painting. As my wife pointed out several times throughout the day, "It's blue." Indeed. The pictures will prove it. More importantly, it's pi-radical.
Anyhow, I went through three cans of paint. I put two coats everywhere, and three coats on the part of the basement where the bar will sit. Truthfully, the whole basement needed three coats, but I ran out of paint and didn't feel like getting more. I'll do some touch-up work with the little bit of paint I have left at some point. I was stunned how tough it was to get blue to completely cover white. I'm guessing painting blue to white would have been even tougher, though. God help the people who eventually buy our house from us.
I want to get a sign that you face when you open the door to the basement pointing downstairs and reading, "TO THE BAR." When leaving the basement, I want a sign that reads, "BEYOND HERE THERE BE MONSTERS." I think that would be cool, and it's my damn bar.
Some random thoughts from my painting excursion:
- Make fun of me all you like, but Queen rocked. By the way, has anyone ever heard the song "We Will Rock You" without it being followed by "We Are the Champions"? Aren't they two separate songs? I suppose after one gets rocked by us, that makes us the champions, so I guess they go together well. I also dare you to not think of Wayne's World when "Bohemian Rhapsody" comes on.
- Cheap canvas tarp stops nothing from going through it.
- Don't believe that warm air rises? Crouch down on your basement floor. Then go to the top of your basement stairs and stand on a ladder. Sweat. Repeat until you are a believer in physics.
- Make sure said ladder at the top of the stairs is far, far away from the top stair, lest ye pass out.
- You can only half-whistle, half-sing "A Pirate's Life for Me" for two hours and fifty-six minutes before you start to piss yourself off. Such singing also makes you wonder why you know most of the words to "A Pirate's Life for Me."
- I am definitely going to have to put an air-quarium in my basement window to add to the pirate theme. Where the hell am I going to find a miniature hammerhead shark?
- I can't decide whether these names for a pirate bar are cool or lame: Pirates' Cove, Pirates' Pub; Davey Jones' Liquor; The Jolly Roger; Tell No Tales Pub; The Barrrrrrrr; Captain Barbosa's Family Feedbag; Hook's. I have no filter for these things anymore.
- If there is a beer that tastes like grog did, I'm pretty sure it has to be Budweiser.
That's all for now. I will post more as I think of it, and as more work gets done.
EDITED TO INCLUDE PICTURES...
Some before and after first coat/second coat shots. Stupid dark paint.
"How did I paint over the staircase," you ask?
Indiana Jones.
Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the map room. Same concept.
